


What Do You Like

by AnimesChibia, ChingKittyCat



Series: Mirrored [3]
Category: Hoshi no Kaabii | Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby - All Media Types
Genre: Demons, Dreamscapes, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mild Language, Mirror Universe, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 05:32:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16423352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimesChibia/pseuds/AnimesChibia, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChingKittyCat/pseuds/ChingKittyCat
Summary: Meta Knight knows the war can't go on forever if the opposing side hasn't stopped after multiple thousands of years. Brute force isn't working. There needs to be another way. With some miracle of luck, Nightmare's been visiting him in his dreams to gather intel on the GSA's movements.So, he decides to make conversation. Maybe diplomacy will work. He hasn't heard of anyone trying it before.-Special thanks to AnimesChiba for letting me use three of their unpublished oneshots as segments in this one big oneshot.





	What Do You Like

   Meta looked up at his visitor, but the yellow war wizard didn't even so much as turn to look at him. The nights, the dreams, they always seemed to be like this. Nightmare in all his hellishly silent and flat-faced glory would show up, and Meta would find himself in a room of pastel clouds that drifted softly around him. Meta received no answer for his question.

   "I like, uh.. Well, I-I, I like all my friends and.."

   Nightmare's continued silence and lack of eyecontact shunned they grey knight into a equally quiet state. Nightmare's talons reached out to the clouds and pricked at them with the tips. Like a ripple of water, they turned grey before fading back to their previously pleasant palette. 

   Still, the towering open-caped wizard said nothing. All Meta could do was look at the ripped starspangled cape, along with the emperor-like golden armor he wore around his neck and shoulders. That, and well.. The claws.

   "..Do you l-like the uh, the clouds?"

   Meta blinked behind his mask, fiddling with his hands as he just watched Nightmare continue to prick at the dreamy, fluffy waterless evaporations that floated all around them.

   Grey, then pink, then grey, then pink. Whatever Nightmare was doing was entirely lost on Meta. But whatever it was, it must've been awfully important if the wizard himself was doing it.

   "D-Do you like doing that?"

   Meta fiddled further, his wings restlessly trying to escape from his back as to fly far, far away from where he was. Far from Nightmare, far from the guy who Meta couldn't even say his name out loud.

   A deep, rumbling sigh came from Nightmare, and he receded his hand from the cloud and into his open cape. Meta'd never seen it closed, and honestly it came across as terribly brave. Pompously so, at times. It's like he didn't even want to bother with armoring himself anymore, and just left it open because he knew nothing could harm him.

   After the hum, more silence. This time, motionless silence save for the rippling of Nightmare's tattered cape.

   Meta gulped.

   Then Nightmare simply waved his hand, causing the entire dream to be thrown into blackness. His form melted into it, and Meta was left alone in it. The knight huffed and sat in the dark, as his mind was invaded for its precious memories.

   Because Nightmare picked him, Meta Knight, to be the one who he'd scavenge for the GSA's attack plans from.

  
  
  


   "Airward? Can I talk to you, sir?"

   Meta resisted the urge to vomit as he walked into the kiwi-birdon's tent. The entire place reeked of incense the point where even the rock-colored plastic tent had embedded the smell into it's unnatural makeup. His urge culminated in a loud, audible gag, which the kiwi took note of.

   "Are you sick?"

   Airward's delivery was flat. If this guy wasn't being flat in his emotions, he was busy being angry over the opposing side's tactical movements. Which, considering how he was looking over a map of the planet, Meta'd come right before he was about to get real mad.

   "W-Well, no, I was.. I."

   Airward's eyes were the piercing sort that unnerved whomever looked into them, even his own soldiers. The whole general demeanor didn't help either, especially since he was subtly judgmental individual. Atleast, that's what it felt like when Airward just stared at him.

   "I need to tell you something, sir, I-I believe it's worthy of your attention."

   Meta fiddled with his hands as he looked off, uncomfortable with Airward's stare.

   "If this is about Yamikage, I can't do anything about him." 

   Airward assumed something that was like, incredibly far from what Meta wanted to talk about. Meta was curious as to what Airward was on about with Yamikage, though, so he listened.

   "I know he's strange, and I get complaints about him every time new recruits come in here trying to say he's a threat to the army because of his.." Airward gestured around with his tiny Kiwi wings, "Willingness to openly talk about his obsession. But I can assure you that I've fought with the man for a very long time, so there's no need to worry about him."

   Meta blinked and looked back at Airward, still nervous.

   "Uhm.. I've only been here for a little while, sir, so.. I don't really know anything about Yamikage or his 'obsession'."

   "..I see. For your own sake, then, don't talk about Nightmare around him."

   Meta shivered hearing the warlord's name out loud. Sure, Meta referred to big blanky as Nightmare in his head, but he'd never say it out loud. No, never in a thousand years. That's like putting your foot in acid and expecting to be fine after you pull it back out.

   "I uh, understand. But on the topic of-" Meta paused, holding himself from saying the guy's real name, "Enemy, I.. I've been seeing him in my dreams. He never does anything or even really talks, he's just there. I think he's-"

   "I hope this doesn't mean you're getting the same obsession as Yamikage has," Airward scoffed then got this smirk on his face, "he talks way pretty often about how often he sees Nightmare in his dreams, but I'll spare you the details. I'm sure you'll appreciate that in the longrun if I don't tell you what exactly he said his are about."

   Meta was taken slightly aback at the way Airward just shrugged what he'd said off.

   "Kid, it's probably just your own imagination. I can hardly get Nightmare into my own dreams," Airward picked up a stick of the incense from a pot, holding it up for Meta to see, "and I'm trying to attract him into mine on purpose. You're dismissed."

  
  
  


   "I like your uh.. Your clothes."

   Meta was really having a hard time keeping conversation up here. Honestly, what was there to talk about? Nightmare hardly ever talked, and Meta'd relied on some sort of conversation when having. Well, you know, a conversation.

   But on the topic of Nightmare's clothes, there was one and only one thing which struck Meta as odd. The rest of Nightmare's form showed off regalia. The white silver, the polished and sparkling gold, the cut diamonds put into that gold armor, everything was to enforce an emperor-like theme.

   Then, right as his head connected to his neck, there was a collar. It wasn't a suit collar, it was like a dog's collar. Mind, it didn't have a buckle or anything, maybe it was easier to compare it to a pure metal choker. White-silver, like on the armor. Collar or choker, it was still there. Compared to the other stuff he had on, and his title, it was certainly a strange fashion choice.

   When he got no response, he decided to switch the subject to something more suitable for getting a response with.

   "What're, uh.."

   Meta kicked at the clouds under his feet idly. He found that looking at the ground rather than directly at Nightmare was better for his anxiousness around the guy. Helped him to not stutter as much.

   "Whats it like? On your side? I'm n-not asking for any details or plans or anything, I just mean.. Like.. Over here we're all tents and ships and stuff, and I've got my step-brother and all my friends so.."

   Meta's luck was phenomenal, as his brother was the strongest Sun Warrior around, and all his friends were either highly trained or were just general veterans of war. Fighting against the demonbeasts proved to be hard, but all the people Meta valued always turned out to be okay in the end. It was great.

   War was still full of casualty. Meta just didn't want to mention or even think about it.

   "What's it like for you?"

   He continued, still not looking up at the dreamscape invader who still was out and about poking the cloud he'd forced to stop infront of him. Nightmare'd now moved his palm to the cloud. The greyness lasted longer when it injected itself, but it still ultimately pulled itself back into pastel after.

   "..Fine."

   Nightmare's deep voice sent a tremor through Meta, causing his fear to spike. It was said in such a monotone way there'd be no way for it to be scary. But due to the echo, perhaps the way it rumbled, it was one sort of voice that belonged to someone who started then lead a war. Its command was so effortless, so horribly dominating, that it was no wonder he'd hardly need to talk. Anyone who heard it became terrified, Meta included.

   "W-Well, that's, that's nice. That's good!"

   Meta kept his wings from fluttering as he kept his nervous eyes on the floor. When Nightmare sighed, Meta expected the dream to end there, but it didn't. Instead, the clouds stuck around for a tad bit longer.

   "You interest me.. You have been in the fields of war for three months now. And from the first visit I have made to your dreamscape to now, your mind has not shifted whatsoever. It is still.. Light.. And.."

   Meta dared to look up to see Nightmare still messing around with that cloud. With it's shifting color that he undoubtedly had something to do with. Meta could still see that flat expression on his face as he trailed off.

   "How long, I wonder, until it becomes like everyone else's.."

   See, now, Meta might've not have the best understanding of what Nightmare was talking about. But taking a second to really fit the puzzle pieces together in his orb brain really helped. His mind becoming like everyone else's? Like, okay, sure, Meta loved his friends, but Suns above, they were real debbie downers. Like, all the time. Mostly everyone was.

   "H-Hopefully never, be-because then who else's going to make things less depressing?"

   Nightmare returned to his silence, and eventually, the blackness came, and so did the violation of Meta's memories.

  
  
  


   “Hello? Yamikage, sir? Um, now’s not a bad time, is it?”

   The pale skinned ninja looked up from his book to the invader in his rather spacey tent. A little grey orb, around the same height as him. He was a little blurry due to the reading glasses Yamikage was wearing. Yamikage was sat, reclined in a small and slightly broken wooden foldable chair.

   “It’d only be a bad time if you were asking me this on the fields of war and battle.”

   Yamikage said, taking his glasses off and putting his open book down on the table next to him. His tent was rather spacey due to his ranking in the army. He was very, very well liked, after all.

   He gestured for the orb to sit across from him, which the other took to the request quickly and nervously. Like some sort of child infront of a principal.

   “I was uh, wondering about something..” 

   “Before you ask me, may I have your name? I’ve talked to you before, but I can’t remember it very well.”

   “Oh, it’s Meta.”

   Yamikage hummed in acknowledgement, allowing Meta to go on with what he wanted to say in the first place.

   “I’ve been here for a little while, and I’ve heard about uh.. The rumors about you?”

   “You’ve come to see if they hold any water?”

   “I mean.. Yeah.”

   “Well, they maybe are in the realm of exaggeration and hyperbole, but they are not wrong. Yes, I do enjoy gazing upon Enemy from across the battlefield, but the title you’ve heard is nothing more than just a joke at my expense. Something to bring humor to the despairing.”

   Meta blinked behind his mask, looked down at the floor, then back up at Yamikage. 

   “I would like to hold his battle-scarred hands, perhaps, and bring him to some sort of lighter state of being than that of what he currently is. That’d be nice.”

   Yamikage leaned back in his chair, causing the wood to creak. Meta gulped, leaving a second of awkward silence. The rumors were true, then. This guy really was a uh.. Well, Meta didn't like to exactly say swears, but it was a most colorful term.

   “Maybe he’ll let you if you ask nicely..? I mean, he never really did anything I asked him, but maybe he’ll listen to you?”

   “You’ve.. Talked to him?"

   Yamikage's cyan eyes went wide as he leaned forward again, now suddenly much more interested than he was before.

   "I- that’s certainly something.”

   Yamikage certainly does sound astonished. Well, it is an astonishing thing.

   “He comes to me when I go to sleep a lot. He’s kind of scary sometimes, but maybe that’s just a tough exterior?”

   “He’s in your dreams.. Well, uhm, perhaps. He is a being of fear, afterall.. He’s supposed to be scary and.. Well, ‘tough’. What I wouldn’t give to be in your place, though, to see him in my dreams. The real him.”

   Yamikage's clear desires for wizard conversation were kinda offsetting Meta, but he'd have to shove them aside. Yamikage was the only seriously chill person in the army, and the only one who took very, very loud interest in the wizard they fought.

   “Almost everytime he visits, he comments about the place we’re in, and the fluffy clouds there. That or he just doesn't say anything at all.”

   “What is it that you two talk about? I doubt he’d be much of a conversationalist..“ 

   "Usually how I can be so optimistic and all that. When he initiates the conversations at least. I try to come up with all sorts of different things to talk about. He… doesn’t respond much…” 

   Meta downturned his eyes before meeting Yamikage's ones. Yamikage was very obviously taking all of this in word for word, even though he looked as relaxed as possible when talking about well.. You know who.

   “Hmm.. Well, I hate to say it, but even I can sort of admit that.. You might be talking to a bit of a brick wall. What’s known about Enemy is.. Well, nothing in regards to actual personality. He’s supposed to be emotionless, at least that’s what can be assumed by how he acts on the field. Trying to talk about things that you think he’d have done.. Well, it wouldn’t work. Casual talk like that wouldn't work.”

   Yamikage believed that the war wasn’t really one that could be won by brute force. That much was obvious from previous talks, and from just his general demeanor.

   “To give him happiness, through pure means, what a prideful thing that would be. War-ending, even.”

   That last part gave Meta some hope.

   “Do you have a plan to make him happy?”

   Yamikage sputtered slightly at the question, fidgeted a tad in his chair then calmed again.

   “Moreso just a hope to do so. A plan is in it’s workshopping stages.” 

   “Well, even a small chance is better than none. And then maybe we could all finally come to a peaceful resolution..”

   Yamikage smiled at Meta's logic, although the smile seemed more like a cat’s smile rather than a regular person’s. Though, honestly, if Yamikage had a straight-laced smile, that probably would've been sorta weird looking.

   “Glad to know someone else shares my optimistic ideologies.” Yamikage was appreciative sounding, at least.

   "I just hope you have better luck than I do. Like you said, I’m probably not making any progress..” 

   Meta, the guy who was talking to the demon in his dreams, yet was so doubtful of himself. Undoubtly, if Yamikage were in that position he’d be the proudest person in the galaxy.

   “Don’t doubt yourself. You’re the one who has him in your dreams, that’s a fantastic step. And after all, sometimes it takes a straw to break the camel’s back. You just need to keep adding on until you can.. Well, to refer to my previous metaphor, break him. Break through his.. Toughness.”

   The idea of breaking someone apart to spill all of their emotions out in a giant tidal wave was not an attractive idea. It was harsh and terrible, and strenuous for all those involved. But it was better than having a war.

   “Yeah. Pick at his walls little by little!” 

   “That’s the spirit! Whatever he’s got behind those walls though..” Yamikage frowned. “I’m sure won’t be very pretty or pleasant. That’s just how emotional walls work.” 

   Meta wasn't deterred. If he could save people by facing the brunt of Nightmare's anger— or even potential sadness— then he would.

   “That’s the first step of healing… Besides, any emotional response is better than nothing. It’s not healthy to keep it bottled up, and I’m not sure being numb is either.” 

   “Being numb is just how some cope. I’ve seen it on the battlefield, and in some respects I’m numb as well. Enemy is coping from.. Something, I’m sure. He is a demon as old as fear itself, there’s sure to have been some things that made him numb. Not to mention this war has been going on for thousands of years. It’s very well possible that it made him this way in the first place.”

   Yamikage obviously had his theories, but no solid proof. After all, it’s pretty hard to do any research on the guy you’re fighting when the only stories about him are the ones told from the sides effected by him.

   “Again, if or when those walls come down, if you’re there to see it, be prepared for anything.”

   Meta nodded, taking heed. 

   “Will do.”

  
  
  


   "S-So I was thinking, why.. Why do you do all this stuff?"

   Was Meta said when Nightmare'd appeared once more. Around to undoubtably fiddle with the clouds then puruse Meta's memories. Again. Which, yes, he was doing. Again. Starting with the clouds.

   "I'm just s-sorta curious.."  

   Nothing.

   "Um.. Okay, uh. M-Maybe you don't want to talk about the war, um.. Okay, what else should we talk about.."

   An inhale, then Nightmare spoke back. Not just that, he turned his head to look at Meta.

   "Why is it.."

   Meta shivered and quaked. His fear gave Nightmare no noticeable joy or pleasure, despite his description as a fear demon. Instead, he showed nothing. Hard to tell if he even wanted to have this conversation in the first place.

   “Mm.. Perhaps I should phrase it a bit.. Differently."

   His towering form circled the orb, who watches him like a fearful mouse would watch a stalking cat. Meta was just about ready to bolt. Well, there’s certainly no place to run in his dreams, was there?

   “Do you think you’ll win..? That’s the better question..”

   There’s no sickness in his words. No malice, no glee. No evil, there’s nothing. 

   “W-Well I-I..”

   Meta bumbled as he met 'eyes' with the wizard who'd ended the lives of so many. Who'd ravaged planets without a second thought, who'd razed orphanages and hospitals, who'd killed the innocent, guilty, young, and old. No one held any value to him, not even Meta Knight.

   “I believe- I-I don’t.. T-There’s.. W-Well. I-”

   Looking into that endless starscape he had for glasses certainly did not help Meta's anxiety. Nor the fact that he was being circled. Well, the circling stopped only after one circle, because Nightmare'd seemingly gotten bored of the movement.

   “I.. O-Okay, I don’t. I don’t k-know, r-really, I-I just want it to end. Peacefully, i-if possible, and-”

   A long hiss-like sigh came from him, which the orb trembled in accordance to.

   “How naive you are..”

   Meta didn't know how many times he'd been called naive in his life, but he heard it often. Just because he liked to keep a positive attitude.

   “You hope to do something impossible..”

   Nightmare spoke it like it was a fact. Like it was something set in stone, as if he was made to play this part and couldn't do anything else.

   “I d-don’t think it is..! Listen, I, I don’t really k-know how things work for you, or why you started this, b-but I want to help you. I want to help you stop, or j-just, to find a better way out of this!”

   Meta's wings rustled anxiously underneath his red cape as he clenched his hands into determined fists. He struggled to keep eyecontact, which Nightmare had no issue with.

   “There has to be a better way.. I-I just.. I know there is..”

   More silence. Meta shuddered again at how awful it was.

   “Mm.. Do you know what I am, child..?”

   “I-I’m not a child..”

   Meta mumbled, feeling shame for his appearance rise in the back of his head.

   “B-But.. N-No, no, I-I don’t.. N-Not really sure what you are.. I-I.. I know you're a-a fear d-demon..”

   Meta looked towards Nightmare's hands as he vaguely gestured. Every single movement of those scythes for fingers drew the feeling of fatality.

   “What I am is evil.. Pure, concentrated, put into form. I feed off fear, like yours, and it powers me and allows me to live.”

   Meta's gaze is on the colorful, bright floor. He just couldn't bear to look at Nightmare anymore, the dude just unsettled him too much.

   “I am a.. Mm.. Weed, of sorts. The sort that no matter how many times you kill it, it will always sprout back up.”

   “T-That’s.. There has to be another w-way. There has to..”

   “You defy logic..?”

   Meta's argument needed to be heard through by the one it affected most.

   “Y-Yes! I.. I know there has to be a way! There’s no way that this is all there is for you! Y-You shouldn’t have to consciously have a war just so you don’t have to go t-to bed hungry! It’s not fair.. I want to try and help you, Enemy. You just.. You’re going to have to try and co-operate with me.”

   Nightmare was quiet, but his hesitance was not accompanied by shock.

   “The universe is unfair. You cannot expect it, nor me, by association, to be fair..”

   What sort of response was that. That literally answered none of his questions or replied to any of his statements. Why was he dancing around the problem?

   “What happened to you? Why are you like this? Y-You have the power to do basically anything, yet you act like this! Why?? What happened?”

   There’s a nice, long and awkward silence again. A low hum from the wizard before he broke the imposed silence.

   “I was born. Unlike you, I was born evil. My conception is evil, and my nature is evil. This is how I was made, how I am meant to be, how I always will be..”

   That really struck Meta. The whole idea of being born evil, how Nightmare was supposedly meant to be. Meant to be.. Well, Meta was meant to be some regular kid in a bad side of town, he was meant to be some sad and angsty teenager like his step-brother, but he wasn't. Who said that couldn't be the case for mister 'I've killed literally billions of people'?

   “H-Have you tried to be anything else? Other than this?”

   Meta's next words came out much more soft and comforting than he'd intended them to. But that was probably a good thing.

   “Are you too scared to be..?”

   Nightmare's upper lip twitched, and that's the only sign Meta got that he'd struck.. Something. A nerve? A soft spot? Whatever it was, it got a visceral reaction out of the guy Meta was trying to make break, and that was progress. It certainly was no crack, but it was something.

   A crack was all that was needed to break a dam if struck hard enough.

   “..That is enough.”

   Nightmare moved his hand.

   “W-What-”

   And just like that, everything was black.

  
  
  


   "Back where I come from, people never talk. Like, ever. It's the worst, you'd hate it. Or when they do talk, it's always about something negative. Which is funny to me for a couple of like, cultural reasons as well as general biological reasons."

   Saber was this very odd sort of alien. One of a deep, nearly midnight blue peanut-shaped body, one of which that had pauldrons to replicate sholders and a basically-grey yellow cape around themselves. Through their visor was this soft yellow eye, pleasing for anyone to look into.

   But aside from Saber's appearance which might've set them as someone who'd be intimidating to talk to, Saber was actually a very pleasant person. Unlike Jecra at times, who was busy being very, very quiet off to Meta's right on the dinnertable. It left Meta with some time to talk to Saber, or at least try to with the chatter of everyone else.

   "No one in your family talks very much?"

   "Except for like, my.. Well, they're like, my parent because they're both my mom and dad in one, so yeah, my parent talks a lot. But they're always just talking about really sinister stuff or talking about how they wanna do all these bad things all the time, and I'm like 'stop, I don't wanna hear about this anymore'."

   Meta couldn't really sympathize at that last part, Jecra was quiet but he wasn't exactly sinister or evil.

   "What about your siblings?"

   "I usually have to talk at them until they say something back," Saber didn't have hands, actually, they used their cape ends sort of like hands to wrap around the  utensils. Said utensils they currently possessed were hard at work poking at the dinner slop.

   "And what if they don't?"

   "Then I just go do something funny or something I think they'd like, make sure they see me, and see if that gets them to talk to me."

   Meta Knight nodded, poking at the slop but keeping his ear on what Saber was chatting about.

   "And if it doesn't, I just keep trying and trying until they do. And once they do talk, I just sort of take whatever they say and just respond to it the best I can to try and make them talk more."

   "Doesn't that ever make it awkward, though?"

   "Oh yeah, sure, and maybe it's part of me liking to talk, but usually it doesn't get to that point. But if I ever say something that's killed the mood I know, so I just apologize and try to talk about something else."

   "What if um," Meta tried to look into their eye, but they were looking around all over the place, "what if you tried over and over but your sibling just keeps talking about super negative stuff no matter what you try to say? Do you, um.. Have any siblings that're just.. Too apathetic to talk to?"

   Saber looked thoughtful for a moment before looking directly at Meta. Finally sitting still for a bit to give him a response.

   "Some of my siblings are selectively mute, Meta," Saber prefaced, "I can even get them to giggle. It's just a matter of patience and knowing what to say. You have to keep at it until you find something you both like. If you know a hobby that the other one has, you try to do some of that with them. They'll warm up to you. Oh, and one more thing, yeah, my siblings aren't talkers but they still like me. But like, sometimes relationships don't even need to have any talking. Just doing the same thing next to someone helps warm them up to you for later."

  
  
  


   Meta clung around a pastel cloud. It's wooly surface was this lovely, fuzzy feeling. Not water, but like a puff of some fluff just in the air. He'd used his wings to really hug it, like a six limbed hug. He'd been doing this for a while, ever since he found out that he could touch the clouds in the first place. Plus, gripping onto them helped his anxiety.

   The cloud's movement was soft under him, perfect to grip onto and snuggle against. 

   "I wish I could bring these into the real world.." 

   He mumbled to himself. War didn't provide much comfort except for the sleeping bags, and even then those were only decently comfortable at best. They weren't like the wooly clouds in his dream, and they certainly weren't as calming either.

   Nightmare was quiet, doing his own thing as usual. Well, Meta assumed he was doing the usual, he couldn't exactly see the big guy when he was face-down in a pastel cloud.

   Meta Knight shifted on the cloud as it slowly floated around with the small borb ontop of it. As he sat, he thought about Jecra, about Garlude. His two friends, who this war threatened. Who Nightmare threatened. Who the guy he's literally trying to become friends with was threatening by doing all of this. 

   It did sour Meta. He didn't want any of his friends hurt, especially not when he could stop it. Every time they got wounded, it was a personal emotional attack towards Meta. If Nightmare didn't exist, if this war was over, if a bunch of other things, he would never have to deal with the emotional turmoil of seeing his step-brother hurt, or any of his friends hurt.

   But he needed to become Nightmare's friend. There was no other way to end this. If Nightmare was a 'weed' who sprung up no matter how many times it was killed, it meant brute forcing through this was impossible. He needed to deal with the emotional of Nightmare, not the physical. He needed to destroy Nightmare there, not in reality. 

   Meta huffed slightly and tried to get more comfortable on his cloud. Sometimes he regretted coming along with Jecra to join the war, it always made him think so seriously about such heavy topics like literal emotional destruction. It was a good thing Nightmare couldn't read his thoughts, he'd probably be pretty mad. Or, well, he probably wouldn't be mad, considering what he was like.

   Meta slipped from his cloud, losing his grip as he readjusted. Though he'd managed to stay on the cloud, he'd slipped down significantly, and his ruckus in trying to keep himself on was pretty loud with the beating of his wings.

   He crawled back ontop, and then looked towards Nightmare just incase it'd attracted his attention.

   Nightmare's head was only turned slightly towards him, expression flat. Though, he'd reacted like he'd just been caught staring. Nightmare quickly positioned his head to refocus on the own clouds he was messing with. Meta kept his eyes on Nightmare for as long as he possibly could, then quietly went back to snuggling.

  
  
  


   "It's so pretty.." 

   Meta crooned, brushing his finger over the silver blade that Jecra now held. The thorny ancient weapon sparkled in the light of the sun, reflecting it like it'd been polished just yesterday. 

   "It was surprisingly easy to get."

   Jecra put Galaxia back into its sheath, away from Meta's prying eyes and hands. Jecra was rather prudish about accomplishments, and the acquisition of Galaxia was no different. 

   "Are you going to use it?" 

   Meta wondered, keeping his eyes on the hilt. He knew of the sword's dangers, but man, man, he really wanted to grab it and swing it around like he owned it. Unfortunately, he wasn't the one that Galaxia chose. Maybe next time, if there's ever a next time.

   "If I need to. But the demon wasn't in the cave when I went to get it. Chances are, Nightmare isn't any the wiser to us having it. At least, not for now. It'd be better to spring it on him when the time's right rather than to just use it in one random battle."

   Meta's eyes grew a bit soft at Jecra's words. Why did Jecra have to tell him all this stuff, why did Jecra have to be his step brother who trusted him with everything? Nightmare was going to find out, and Meta couldn't do anything about it. He had no say in it.

   "Yeah," Meta mumbled, "I guess that'd be better to do."

   He was just going to have to hope that Nightmare's next visit was later rather sooner.

  
  
  


   Meta knew Nightmare was just going to scan his memories anyways, but he kept his mouth shut. If he wanted to build trust, if he wanted something, he'd have to say something, but the prospect was entirely scandalous and traitorous.

   But in the end it doesn't matter, does it? One way he has something to gain and the other way he doesn't. 

   "E-Enemy, um.." 

   Meta trailed off. Nightmare turned his head at his nickname, waiting for whatever Meta was going to say next. It was important, so.

   "My brother, h-he uh.. He got Galaxia."

   There was a terrible swath of silence that made Meta tremble. Why did Nightmare leave such awkward pauses? For drama? Just to make Meta scared, make him regret what he said while not saying anything at all?

   "And why exactly are you telling me this..?"

   Flat as always, not at all curious despite the fact that it was lined up like a question. Meta gulped, eyes darting around.

   "W-Well, I-"

   "Do you plan to be a traitor? How.. Out of character for you.."

   Nightmare was pretty unfront about it. As he questioned, he turned fully to Meta. Meta felt the muscles in his wings tense up as he was truly talked down to.

   "N-No, I just.. I figured you were going to see it a-anyways so I might as well have just told you.. T-There's really, um, w-well, n-no point in keeping it a s-secret."

   "..If you had even a scrap of dignity for your cause, you wouldn't willingly tell me."

   Nightmare's point was well taken, yes, even he saw how traitorous it was. He was even, seemingly, scolding him for it. 

   "I-I'm just trying to be nice to you.."

   Meta's squeak was only slightly defensive. Nightmare scoffed, making Meta flinch.

   "I know what you plan, I've seen your conversations, knight. Your plans.. Mhh.. I've said it before. They are impossible."

   Nightmare's back on this again, huh? Well, Meta knew what to say. Yeah, the thing about that conversation is that it intrigued Meta's curiosity. He'd found a place in where he could prick at Nightmare's defenses.

   "I-I think you're just scared of trying. A-And I probably won't ever know why you're scared, but-"

   "I am not scared."

   Nightmare's interjection lacked the visible response that had ingrained itself in Meta's memory last time they talked about this. Nightmare must've been anticipating such a turnaround.

   "Just because I wish not to do something does not mean I am afraid to do it, knight. The cosmos themselves brought me together, atom by atom. I do not have such.. Petty insecurities."

   How defensive he got. There must've been something there, and that proved it. Meta knew exactly where to look. Even if Nightmare said otherwise, he was scared. The demon of fear, afraid of something. Now isn't that ironic, huh.

   Meta stumbled over his words a bit before he managed to formulate something intelligible. 

   "W-Why would the cosmos make you evil? Did you ever get a.. A-A chance to decide what you wanted to be?"

   Nightmare's lip twitched, and even raised itself. Like he was angry, or about to growl. Meta Knight paled at the sight of perfectly straight teeth, and his lack of any visible canines. Whatever was going on in that mouth, Meta did not want to see. Then it lowered, and it was back to a flat line.

   "You know nothing about what you're attempting to talk about.."

   Deflection instead of an answer, Nightmare provided.

   "T-That's why I'm trying to learn, I-I, I want to learn, so please just.. C-Can you answer my question?"

   "..I had chances," Nightmare rumbled, "I chose this path. That is enough talk."

   With a wave of the sorcerer's hand, everything went black again. Meta was thrust into that familiar darkness, two thoughts on the mind. He is getting somewhere, because he's finding out things and Nightmare is most certainly not telling him everything he wants to hear.

  
  
  


   Meta peered from the brush he and Jecra had hid in. Their camp was being torn apart by a large, lizard-like creature. Its scales stuck out like it were a pinecone, and shuttered and clacked like the creature had no care for the noises it made. Its tongue flicked about and slashed at the air, before its head snapped directly in the direction of the bush.

   Meta startled, and Jecra, seeing that their cover had been blown, unsheathed Galaxia and immediately charged. Meta'd hesitated for a moment as he saw the creature's gun hands load put with loud clicks.

   He jumped out right as bullets began pelting. Jecra cried out as he was hit, but continued to charge forward. The creature lumbered back from Jecra, continuing to fire at its more pertinent target. Jecra just got absolutely blasted with those bullets despite the fact that he had shield to block most of them, getting to look like swiss cheese more than anything. But Meta wasn't going to stand for that, slashing as soon as he got close enough to those guns on the beast's arms.

   It growled and whacked Meta away, but not for long. Jecra wasn't stopping despite his injuries, using Galaxia to slice one of the creature's guns in half. But the gun simply reformed itself and kept shooting. 

   It was just rinse and repeat.

   The arduous battle ended with the great lizard slumbering and slumping to a halt, exhausted and beaten by the blade of Galaxia. Both Meta and Jecra both panted and huffed, sweat dripping from them as they finally got it to submit.

   "Irusakin, all the way out here.. Enemy must've heard about us taking Galaxia, or it could sense it was gone."

   Jecra wheezed, still trying to catch. But there wasn't any time for that, as monsters from within the shade of the trees burst out in ambush. Meta cried out in alarm, squabbling onto his back as a bug-like creature advanced onto him, restraining him the best it could before he could slice at it.

   Jecra seemed to fight the best he could.

   Until a raptor of the sky descended upon him, long talons grabbing his shoulders, and flew off with him. He'd dropped Galaxia in the process, leaving Meta alone with it and the demons. In a flurry of torment and grief, he struggled relentlessly, crying out in anger as he cut down whatever was near him the best he could. 

   Meta was surrounded, and in his overwhelming situation, he hadn't noticed Irusakin and Galaxia had also disappeared with Jecra. Not until he was by himself, in a forest of corpses.

  
  
  


   "Enemy!"

   Meta was quick on the draw. Nightmare hardly even had time to grab a cloud before Meta'd called out to him. The wizard stalled his movement, looking down at Meta. This orb had all of his attention, and Meta became acutely aware of that as he started trembling.

   "M-My! Y-You took my brother! G-Give me back my- my brother! Please!"

   Meta tried to sound as determined as possible through a cracking voice. Nightmare was solemn.

   "..It does not matter to me that he is your brother. He is the wielder of Galaxia, nothing more, nothing less."

   Nightmare then moved as to go towards Meta's clouds. Not like Meta could stop him, of course, Nightmare being a gigantic wizard and Meta being a tiny little fella on the ground. Meta briefly entertained the thought of flying straight up to Nightmare's face and giving him what for, but quickly discarded that.

   "I-It matters to me! He doesn't even have Galaxia anymore, I-Irusakin took it! Please! G-Give him back..!"

   Meta sniffled, his eyes watering. His mask didn't have a setting to show off his sadness, so his eyes just stayed yellow.

   "He is still its wielder."

   "B-But he doesn't have it!"

   "He will have it if I were to return him."

   "I-I'll! I'll tell him not to! Please! Please give him back!"

   Nightmare pressed his hand to the cloud, not bothering to give Meta an answer back for a moment. The clouds were as pastel as usual, and still resilient against the greyness Nightmare tried to inflict them with.

   "P-Please.. Enemy, please.."

   Meta was basically begging for his brother back. As sad as it sounded, he knew he couldn't do much else other than beg. What could he do? What could he do, other than beg? He can't beat Nightmare. No one can beat Nightmare.

   "..Perhaps I will consider having him return."

   Nightmare stated blankly, immediately lifting Meta's spirits. Jecra was going to come back, Nightmare was showing him mercy. Maybe Meta was getting somewhere!

  
  
  


   "I'll go with him."

   Garlude stood and joined Meta's side, Airward looking at her like she were a slight bit crazy, but accepted her volunteering nontheless. The slightly minty colored warrior woman was no pushover in a fight, and with her by Meta's side, he felt a lot better going off to go fight Irusakin and claim Galaxia. Again.

   "I see. Be back as soon as possible, Garlude, we'll miss you on the battlefield. Go pack. Head out as soon as possible, you two."

   Airward waved his small wing before returning to his smelly tent.

   "Your brother," Garlude looked down at Meta with a sympathetic expression, "we'll get him back. With Galaxia in our hands, we can threaten Nightmare."

   Meta shuttered at Garlude's use of Nightmare's real name. Garlude took notice and pat Meta on the head as to try and soothe his worries, but Meta couldn't help it. 

   "Excuse me. Enemy." 

   She corrected herself, but she'd already said it. Then, she went to go pack. Meta watched her back for a moment, then went himself.

  
  
  


   Meta was nothing but sobs when he returned. Airward had tried to pull a story from him, but failed. Meta had gotten Galaxia, and in the end that was all that really mattered. Even if they lost Garlude in the process, they got the sword back. They got the sword back.

   The oddest thing was that it hadn't shocked Meta when he'd grabbed it. It was meant to select one wielder and that would be it until that wielder died. Which, well, since it'd selected Jecra previously.. That really struck Meta. 

   The only time he'd stopped sobbing was a week later, when Jecra arrived on the battlefield with the rising sun. On the opposing side of the field, but on the field nontheless. Meta had basically run to him, discarding any suspicion to go and hug him as soon as possible. But he was stopped by Jecra's shield. He pushed Meta back before kicking him a distance away.

   "J-Jecra! W-What's wrong?"

   Meta was genuinely confused. He looked directly into his step-brother's eyes. He couldn't see any use of mindcontrol, any.. Anything. 

   "Enemies to the Lord of Misery, Nightmare," Jecra growled, as he pointed his sword towards Meta, "I will kill you, and I will lead this war to its end. Surrender yourself to me, and to him, and I will make it painless."

   "You're a traitor, why?" 

   One of the soldiers nearby questioned, making Jecra's eyes steel even more.

   "I was never on your side, don't pretend you know me."

   Meta was paralyzed by that. But the other Sun Warriors nearby weren't. Yamikage was the first to attack Jecra, one of the swifter ones. He landed ontop of Jecra's shield with a jump, which he used to propel himself back off and push Jecra as well.

   "Stop, stop! That's my step-brother!"

   Meta's pleas were on deaf ears, as Jecra and the other soldiers fought. Through the sky came demons, and on the ground they stampeded. General soldiers, the GSA, were more than capable to handle those. Jecra was a bigger issue than the demons.

   Mostly because he was beating everyone's ass despite the fact that he was being attacked all at once. He'd slammed those who flew around him into the ground and broke their wings, he bent back the fingers of those who used magic, he shattered the ribcages of those who had them, and he so thoroughly beat some up that they passed out.

   "Meta, you have to do something! Do something, anything!"

   Yamikage sounded fairly annoyed, being beaten into submission by Jecra. Not like he could do much else other than lay there when he had two broken legs and his two swords flung off a really far distance away. Well, he did seem to be crawling towards one of the other warriors to take their weapon but..

   Now it was just Meta. And Jecra.

   And Galaxia.

  
  
  


   "..You are still hopeful."

   Nightmare brushed over the cloud in his hand. Meta was quiet, sitting on the floor. He wanted to curl into a ball and stay there forever, honestly. He didn't want to have this conversation right now. Why did Nightmare have to pick tonight to go into his dreams? It's not like he could've picked any other time.

   "I don't know.."

   Meta sniffled, wiping under his mask with his glove.

   "What do you hope for?"

   "I-I hope this can stop.. I just want the war to stop.. A-And I think it can, if you just.. Just stop."

   Meta wasn't really going to say much. He couldn't formulate much. He was wracked with grief still.

   "I see."

   Nightmare was satisfied with that, and seemed to be about to slap Meta Knight into that darkness the Batamon knew so well.

   "W-Wait, Enemy. I.. Can I ask you something, about my brother. Please."

   Meta sniffled, voice cracking at that please, making him sound especially desperate. From the lack of response Meta received, and the lack of darkness, he was being given the go-ahead.

   "W-Why.. Why did my brother betray u-us? Me? W-Why?"

   Meta couldn't keep himself from crying, letting tears stream behind his mask like they'd been for the past while now.

   "..I can't tell you. He simply did. Perhaps out of a desire to become strong, perhaps because he valued his own life above others, perhaps because he knew that the fight was fruitless and wanted to be on the winning side."

   All of those reasons were awful. Meta couldn't cope with any of that. Jecra was his step-brother. Suns above, they'd been together since they were basically toddlers. He can't believe Jecra would just throw that all away to help Nightmare. To stay alive.

   Especially since he had attacked Meta so ruthlessly. Like Jecra had completely forgotten about Meta and their literal lifetime worth of a bond in order to serve Nightmare.

   "I-I don't understand why he would.. Just.. Throw everything away like tha-a-t.."

   Meta was hiccuping in his speech now, his words becoming more broken up. Nightmare didn't respond further, instead waiting a moment more before plunging Meta into darkness.

   To go look at the plans that Airward had to trap him.

  
  
  


   "I don't.. I don't think I like this, at all."

   Meta looked into the distance, in where Nightmare thrashed against the rune trying to restrict him still. It was an uncanny thing to watch, the wizard being challenged so much.

   "I don't know," Yamikage purred, blushing as he looked upon the colossal form of Nightmare continuing to fight, "I think I like it."

   Meta didn't notice the weird ninja's blush, and just assumed he meant it in such a way like 'this is a positive event'. Saber, however, did not take very nicely to the comment and scrunched up their mouthless, noseless face in disgust. Not that Meta saw it either.

   "Nightmare was in my, m-my dreams, he read my memories, he knew the trap was there. Yet he went into it anyways, even though it's supposed to hold him forever. Something's wrong, I don't like it."

   "Maybe he decided to give up," Saber spoke before Yamikage could say anything, "finally."

   "He's struggling, though.." 

   Meta wasn't seeing things. He, Saber, and Yamikage all saw the same thing in that giant crater. A giant warlord fighting the red, translucent ribbons which tried to wrap around his hands to keep him down. They'd rip, they'd tear, and then they'd keep coming and trying to hold Nightmare down.

   "Yes, I would think it'd be better if he just submit already." Yamikage added.

   "Yamikage," Saber was firm, "shut your stupid wizardfucking face. You're being gross."

  
  
  


   It was after the demons had arrived to free Nightmare. They'd all been dispatched, so everyone'd returned to camp. Of course, camp had been moved closer to the capture rune in order to keep a close eye on Nightmare, so it wasn't much of a walk.

   "Enemy..?"

   Meta looked down into the crater from the very rim of it. Nightmare'd been forced onto the ground, that much Meta had already seen. Though now, he was motionless. 

   "Hm.."

   Meta would've assumed he was asleep if he hadn't responded. How the giant wizard had managed to hear him will always escape Meta. Granted, this dude's a huge giant wizard with a bajillion powers, so. Maybe not outside the realm of possibility.

   "W-Why did you get yourself captured? You saw the plans for the trap in my memories."

   Meta felt significantly more at ease talking to this man while he was like this. Unable to do anything to him. It gave Meta a level of safety he'd so desperately needed. But Nightmare threatened to rip that away when he didn't respond.

   "D-Do you want to talk later?"

   Meta asked.

   "We shall talk later, yes.."

   Nightmare's voice was softer than usual, but it still overwhelmed Meta. So, with that, he scurried off as quickly as possible.

  
  
  


   Airward had screamed profanity, as well as Yamikage's name. Because as it turns out, the guy who had a crush on Nightmare, was the guy who was going to go traitor. Truly a twist nobody saw coming.

   In the dead of 'night', Yamikage and his ninjas had just gone and freed the guy from containment after so much effort and calculation to get him in there. Honestly, Meta wasn't surprised, but he still was angry about it. Dejected, even. First it was Jecra, now it was Yamikage.

   He held tightly onto Saber's cape, and they looked down at Meta with nothing but sympathy.

   "Hey, if anything happens, don't worry. I'm not going to turn traitor or die, okay?"

   Saber had promised.

   But just a month later, when the GSA was rushed by a barrage of unexpected demons, Meta had his doubts on that promise. All up until now, Nightmare had played fairly. Now he'd just opened the flood gates and fought like an actual monster.

   Meta was on the battlefield when it happened. He was there as these horrible dogs were unleashed. These.. Mint-green dogs that could freeze anything, then rip parts asunder with their gigantic canines. No one could match up to them, no one knew what to do when their attacks seemingly did nothing. Even Galaxia's blade couldn't cut through their fur by itself. Amongst those dogs were normal demons, in which were a problem all on their own. So much so that they'd managed to get Meta out of the sky and break his wings on his impact with the ground.

   Meta's fear kicked him and compelled him to hide. He didn't know why, but it told him to run and to hide. So that's what he did. He split a turtle-like monster open with a large gash on its stomach, and he crawled right on in. There weren't any internal organs or blood, so it was surprisingly clean. But it did smell a bit strange.

   From inside the monster he panicked, trying to reason with what he was doing. 

   "What are you doing?"

   A man's voice spoke, almost making him scream. 

   "..Ah. I haven't spoken to you before. I am Galaxia. Why aren't you fighting?"

   Meta blinked and shuddered, not being able to comprehend what was going on. His wings shot him with pain as he made them tremble.

   "I-I don't want to watch them die. I do-don't want to die."

   Meta whimpered, looking from the cut he'd made to see a pack of dogs seemingly devour one of his fellow Sun Warriors. Meta retched.

   "They will die if you hide. Please, you have to try. Try."

   Galaxia sounded like it was pleading with him.

   "N-Nothing hurts them, I-I can't! I don't, I d-don't want to die!"

   Meta's eyes were shot with fear and he almost sheathed Galaxia.

   "Then you can't hide here. They'll be able to sense you. They're demons. They will find you. So, run. And while you run, fight."

  
  
  


   Meta's flee was successful, as far as he knew. He'd returned to camp, still in a wild panic. He'd thrown himself into his tent, zipped it up, then tossed Galaxia to the side and curled into a ball on his cot. 

   He shivered and whimpered, terror still deeply biting into him. He couldn't get himself to stop, it was too much. He whined, loudly. This time, during his mass hysteria, Galaxia did not speak up.

   Galaxia did not speak up when he eventually grabbed it either. The only noise to him was the sound of his own breath.

   "Meta.."

   Then it was the sound of Saber's voice.

   Meta snapped to attention, sitting up from his bed to look at the swordsman who looked rather ragged. They'd been on the battlefield, and they'd gotten a few new rips in their cape from it. Not to mention some of the ice still on their body.

   Meta didn't hesitate to hug Saber, his wings not listening to him as he tried to wrap them around the large peanut-shaped black alien. Too much pain in them. Saber's cape swathed around Meta.

   "The fight's been over for hours. I tried to talk to you earlier, but.. You weren't responding. I think you had a panic attack."

   Saber hugged Meta back the best they could. 

   "I-Is everyone else okay? I.. I'm s-so sorry.. I.."

   Meta shuttered again, whimpering. Saber didn't respond. All they did was rub Meta's back with their cape, avoiding his wings the best they could.

  
  
  


   "Breakfast! Here you go!"

   The two had stopped eating at the dinnertable the first day. Being the only two there was awfully depressing, so they just ate in Meta's tent instead. Saber wasn't really a cook, moreso just someone who was competent enough to get the supplies out and put them together in such a way that was edible.

   "Aren't you going to eat anything..?"

   Meta took the plate, but seeing Saber with nothing made him feel a little guilty.

   "I uh, I ate before you woke up. You sleep for a really long time."

   Saber waved it off, still sounding happy.

   "Okay, if you say so."

   Meta's hands twitched as he lifted his mask slightly, enough to get his food into his mouth. Saber sat themselves down, content with the fact that Meta was eating. But Meta wasn't blind.

   He'd noticed their form was getting smaller, weaker.

   "Saber.. Are you sure you're eating?"

   Meta didn't want to be intrusive.

   "Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm eating."

   "You look like you've lost weight."

   Saber was quiet, their eye gazing down briefly at Galaxia's handle briefly.

   "Saber?" Meta snapped them back into attention.

   "Sorry, sorry. I've just been worried is all. Those dogs, they've been around a lot lately, so I've been doing a lot of running around and not enough eating. They're just.. Really tiring to fight off."

   "Saber-"

   "Meta, I know you're really injured, I don't want you to go out and fight them with me. Your wings need to heal. I just.. I need you to be happy, okay? That would make me happy, and more confident. Please."

   Saber sounded a little desperate. Meta looked at the food, then at them.

   "I-I promise I'll try to be more happy.."

   From the fact that Meta hadn't done anything other than mourn for the past week, he felt like that was going to be a promise he was going to break basically immediately.

   "I know it's really hard, but.. I'll try my hardest to make you happy, okay? Just please, please try to be happy. I need you to be happy, you have no clue how much you being happy means to me."

   Saber looked at the floor. Meta did the same.

   Later that 'night', Meta couldn't sleep. Visions flashed before him, of his acquaintances and allies being torn asunder, only for him to run like a coward. Repeating, over and over, were thoughts of how he could've saved them, how he could've at least tried. But he didn't try. He just ran, and ran, and didn't even bother to come back.

   His thoughts were only temporarily silenced when Saber cuddled into him, mostly because the action was so overtly friendly that he couldn't think about anything else other than 'wow, Saber is really close right now, I'm sorta uncomfortable'.

  
  
  


   It'd been a month and a week since it happened. At least, that's what Saber told him when he'd asked.

   Meta slowly blinked awake as the light of day hit his face from behind his eyelids. It was probably noon by now. Maybe even later. He didn’t know. He could have slept an entire planetary rotation and he wouldn’t know. At this point he relied on Saber to even have a sense of time anymore. Speaking of them, where were they? Usually they’re right there beside him when he wakes up.

   “Saber?” he mumbled.

   No response. Not even that single piercing eye peeking at him from behind the mask they always wore. Nothing.

   “Saber?” Meta Knight called just a little louder.

   Nothing. Where did they go?

   He sat up and reluctantly crawled out of the tent, back into the emptiness of the rest of the campsite. He got up off the dusty ground and back onto his feet, not even bothering to dust himself off as his eyes scanned the campsite for his mysterious cyclops friend.

   “Saber!” he called again, this time as loud as he could without reaching his deafening bat like screeching. 

   Not even a peep.

   He spun around to look for them, then searched the camp site, searched the GSA mother ship, even went as far from the campsite as he dared just to look for them, which admittedly wasn’t very far. He was afraid of going back to the battlefield with the reminder of everyone else’s fate. Or even to run into a monster waiting to have him join them. Still no sign of the cyclops swordsman after fifteen minutes of searching.

   “Saber…” he croaked out weakly.

   The knight wrapped his cape around himself.

   After all this time of trying to lift his spirits, of trying to help him heal… They finally gave up on him. They left. They didn’t even wait until he was awake, or say goodbye, or even leave a letter. They just up and left, most likely finally tired of taking care of him and his soggy emotional breakdowns and his constant sleeping.

   Meta realized then that he should be crying again. His only friend left just left him without so much as a word, and now he was really alone. Now the campsite was truly empty. Now there was no one left. He had no one.

   Yet, not a single tear fell. He couldn’t bring himself to cry, even if he wanted to. It seemed he was finally out of tears to shed. For the longest time, all he could really do was blankly stare off into space.

   Why couldn’t he cry? Was he broken? He just continued to stare. Stand there like a statue. Unblinking.

   A thought crossed his mind after a while. He wanted to go home. He wanted to go where everyone was waiting for him.

   What did that mean, he didn’t know. Everyone in the GSA has already died right before his eyes, and his fathers are probably expired as well. Regardless, he turned back to the campsite. Once he reached the tent, he started packing the remaining rations and then headed into the mothership.

   No, he didn’t know how to drive it, but he did know how to drive a star ship. The star ships were all in the docking area. Using the trusty silver sword Galaxia, he sliced open the door that allowed ships in and out of the mother ship before heading to the silver ship. Once he climbed in with his bag of food and water, he activated the ship and took off.

   He sped into the sky and didn’t slow down any until he left the atmosphere of the planet. It was at that point, he grew drowsy.

   This ship was built purely for travel, and since space travel took a while, the ship had a subtle way of lulling one to sleep to make the travel go by faster. It was for the sanity of the traveler.

   As he closed his eyes, he saw the window slowly being covered by metal shelling.

  
  
  


   He wasn’t sure how long he’d been sleeping, and he wasn’t sure when even he’d wake up. All he knew was that he was in this strange sort of space that he’s seen a few times when he was visited by him… Something was different about it, though. It use to be colorful, beautiful… Now it was just bleak, dark colored, but no absence of light, strangely enough. 

  
  


   In any normal situation, he would have been at least a bit disappointed by that. He had loved the colors. It provided a strange sort of comfort when he was making him feel especially afraid.

   Yet he didn’t even feel a twinge of disappointment or longing for the colors’ return. All he felt was indifference.

   Ah, and there he was, as Meta Knight had expected. Nightmare in all his towering, intimidating, uncaring glory. The dull Batamon should have been afraid of him as usual, struggling not to cower before him while nervously trying to make pleasant conversation with him. 

   Meta wasn’t even phased anymore, let alone scared.

   The two of them stared blankly at each other for a moment before the Sun Warrior sighed.

   “What are you here for this time? Everyone else is dead. I’ve thrown in the towel.. What more do you want from me?” 

   He murmured, almost surprised by how monotone his voice was now.

   “Don’t flatter yourself,” Nightmare started, “I’ve come to search through your memories to find you.”

   His location. He plans to kill him next.

   Why wasn’t he worried, though? Is it because he was in a space ship right now, and finding him would be like trying to find a needle in a hay factory? Yes, that’s got to be it. He was safe. He was safe for now… He can’t find him.

   “So… You’re not satisfied with the amount of blood already on your hands?” Meta asked dryly.

   “It would be cruel to leave you as the only one remaining rather than letting you join the rest of them in The Suns."

   The winged Batamon merely stared blankly at him again. This… This monster would never be satisfied until every last Sun Warrior was dead, would he? Why did he think.. There was anything redeemable about him?

   Ridiculous naivete, most likely. He should have known better. He knows this creature’s history, he’s seen his monsters time and time again try to kill them all. He had seen, with his own eyes, how this blood thirsty barbarian had rendered previously populated planets uninhabited. He knew this man was responsible for the brainwashing of many of his allies, including his stepbrother. Yet time and time again, his blind optimism wouldn’t let him see this demon for what he truly was.

Until now.

   “I was wrong about you.. Wasn’t I..?”

   He whispered.

   “What do you mean by that?” Nightmare responded, sounding genuinely curious.

   That was the first emotion he had ever seen the murderer express before. Meta let out broken, cynical laughter.

   “I kept hoping.. and hoping.. that maybe, maybe there was something in you, something that was even a little good.. I sincerely wanted to believe that. But you’ve proven to me that nothing of the sort exists. That this is all you are, all you have been, all you will ever be…”

   Silence. That only happened when he merely listened to the small man’s anxious, polite prattling. Of course, even then, after he was done, he always said something dismissive of his words. So why wasn’t he-

   “Hmmmm… What a.. conclusion you’ve come to..” Nightmare hummed thoughtfully.

   Nevermind, then.

   “I wish I came to it sooner.. It would have been far less exhausting.” Meta admitted with a shrug.

   And he was very very tired right now. Wasn’t sleep supposed to be restful?

   “But you did it. You won. Congratulations…”

   More silence. Honestly, Meta Knight expected him to gloat, or at the very least give a toothy, satisfied smirk. But no, that emotionless look on his face was still there.

   Oh, right. Nightmare's not satisfied until he's dead.

   “So it seems..” Nightmare sounded hushed as he'd said that, like it wasn't anything particularly prideful.

   “Well.. Get comfortable, because I doubt I’m waking up anytime soon,” Meta warned.

   “Then comfortable I will get..”

   With a snap of the wizard’s fingers, the orb found himself surrounded by pitch black, inky darkness. A rather invasive feeling came over him. Like spidery hands searching through a very private filing cabinet. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

   He supposed he might as well get comfortable as well, so he sat down.

   After some unknown time, that turned into laying on his side.

   Some more unknown amount of time after that, he had his cape and his mangled, useless leathery wings wrapped around himself.

   Even more unknown amount of time after that, he was curled up into the closest thing to a fetal position a sphere with only feet and short arms could be in.

   Why was it taking him so long? Why not just give him a nightmare already? It’s better than just staring off at nothing. This was starting to drive him crazy. This invasive feeling wasn’t helping either. In fact, as time went on, it just became more and more uncomfortable. He would have just gone to sleep and waited, but he’s already asleep. He can’t sleep within sleeping, that made no sense.

   Some time later, he saw the pitch blackness cracking, like glass. They were small at first, but then they started spider webbing. And they met. Then the pitch blackness fell to pieces.

   It was back to the bleak surroundings and the wizard.

Finally, out of the equivalent of the Void.

   Something was oddly different about Nightmare. He was no longer towering and taking up as much of the view as possible. He was shrunken down to a bit more of a reasonable size, his shoulders were somehow closer together, making him look a little withdrawn, not unlike a turtle. His usual blank expression was replaced with a frown. Not one of displeasure, anger, frustration, or anything like that. Meta couldn’t put his finger on what.

   Meta pushed himself off the floor and back onto his feet.

   “What took so long?” The Batamon grumbled before stretching his arms up.

   He just noticed one of the wizards metallic, boney looking hands was out, almost as if hesitant to reach towards something.

   “Meta Knight..” He heard Nightmare murmur gently.

   Meta's elbow twitched slightly in surprise. That was the first time he had heard him call anyone by name, let alone him.

   The knight slightly narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he let his arms fall to his sides, the first time he felt his face make any sort of effort to change since the day Saber gave up on him.

   He saw the demon flinch a little. What was with the sudden change in demeanor?

   “I.. I’m sorry, I-”

   “‘Sorry’?!” he parroted, his voice sounding almost acidic.

   Oh, he saw where this was going. After finding out that Meta Knight finally gave up on him, he’s going to appeal to him emotionally in hopes maybe, just maybe, he could toy with him before killing him. Bring him back up to break him down again. No, he was not going to believe in him again!

   “Please, listen to me. I-”

   “No! I’m not going through this again!” 

    Meta shouted, caught off guard by how much his voice was raised. Even when he was happy he was never loud.

 

   “Meta, I just-”

   “You! Whatever you’re trying to do, stop!”

   Oh goody, his voice cracked. Where was this fury coming from?

   More than anything, anything, he wanted to wake up. He squeezed his eyes shut and repeated 'wake up' to himself in a hushed but almost furious sounding whisper.

   “Wait, let me help y-”

   Meta Knight opened his eyes to find himself in the small cockpit of his small ship. The shelling was starting to retreat to reveal the astronomical bodies around him. He rubbed his temples. Why did he still feel tired?

   Wait.. He squinted at the planet in front of him. This is…

   No. No no no, this isn’t-

   He was above a star shaped planet, orbited by a sun, a moon, and two rings. This wasn’t where he was supposed to go! He was supposed to go-

   ...

   Home.

   No. He didn’t want to go to his physical home. What kind of idiot was he thinking that? Nobody was waiting for him there. But.. He looked at the sun which circled the blue star.

   They were waiting for him there.

   But wait, what if he didn’t go there, he just went to The Void? He already got something he imagined was pretty close to it before he just woke up, he didn’t-

   He shook his head. No. They wouldn’t send him there. He was a Sun Warrior, right? Hadn’t he fought as hard as he could to defend the galaxy? Hadn’t he tried everything he could to do what’s right? The only thing he’s done wrong, he thinks, is trying to make nice with Nightmare, and that was just him trying to see the good in everyone.

   He deserved to be there. He deserved to be with them again.

   He exhaled behind his mask before going towards the planet full throttle.

   If he was lucky, this just might be enough to let him see them again.

 

  Slowly, his eyes fluttered open. His vision was very blurry, but he could see the colors around him. They were mostly dull, ugly colors, consisting of grays, browns, and sickly dark yellows. Outside of the multiple kinds of pain, ranging between, but of course not limited to, sharp and throbbing, he felt thick liquid oozing down his arms and wings.

   Blood, he realized, he was bleeding. Which was something that was nearly impossible for him to accomplish, by the way. He’d have to be almost mortally wounded in order for blood to show up. Granted, Sun Warriors were naturally harder to bleed than normal people, but even for a Sun Warrior..

   Blearly, Meta Knight crawled out of the cockpit, cutting himself on the broken glass in the process. He winced and hissed as he struggled to escape the ship. It hurt, oh Suns it hurt!

   When he finally made it out, he collapsed on his “good” side onto the dry ground, breathing heavily as he tried to refocus his vision, make sense of the situation. Where was he again? Think..

   Last thing he remembered, he was hovering over a star shaped planet, and he was diving at it full throttle. But why? What kind of idiot just nosedives to a planet at full speed?! Was it at least out of desperation to escape?! Well yes. Sort of. It was an attempt to escape this mortal coil.

   Hey, Nightmare would have gone to kill him anyways, even if he had the will to live! The guy admitted so himself! Might as well do it for him.

   The thing that baffled him was that he was still alive. But why? Why!? That crash should have killed him! It should have.. Suns, he could cry right now. The thing was, at this point, he felt like he already cried himself dry, or even that his.. Tear ducts were broken or something- he didn’t know! All that he knew is that he couldn’t cry anymore.

   So all he did was stare off into space as he waited for his vision to clear.

   He still felt blood dripping off his body. If he’s lucky, maybe he’d just bleed to death.

   Hey, at this point, a slow death was better than no death to him. Going home late was better than not going home at all. It would still be better than being found by Nightmare and being at his mercy. Suns know what he’d do to him if the guy got his claws on him. So he waited.. And waited..

   Until he felt his blood hardening. He’s bled, yes, but apparently not enough to kill him. Maybe if he hadn't been so calm, this wouldn't have happened. Just perfect. Great. Exactly what he wanted.

   With a puff of air, he decided to pick himself up, the action being quite shaky. As he did, he winced again. Using his shoulders, it had occurred to him he had further damaged his already mangled and useless wings. Fantastic. Would he do anything about it?

   Nope.

   When he finally stood up, he turned back to his star ship.

   Oh no, he was not going to be going anywhere with that hunk of junk.

   Wait.

   He unsheathed the legendary sword and stared at it for a moment.

   Just a simple slice or stab.

   He lifted Galaxia and aimed the silver blade at himself. And right when he was about to plunge it inside, the sword seemed to redirect itself into the ground, completely missing him.

   “No!” The voice snapped.

   He was taken aback by this. That… That was the first time the sword had took the wheel when being wielded. And it was to..

   “Why not..?” he asked, his voice quiet and weak.

   “I am your partner, not a tool of your demise,” it scolded.

   He couldn’t believe it, he was being reprimanded by a sword, a freaking sword!

   “You are better than this,” it continued, “you’ve bounced back from everything thrown at you in the past. You’ve overcome so many times. That is what I’ve admired about you. So I do not understand; why the sudden change in attitude?”

   So many ways to answer this question. 'Because, as a person, I have limits', 'because everyone I ever knew and cared about is gone and now I have no one left', but he doubted those were satisfying answers for it.

   “Maybe I’m not as strong as you had thought I was..” He whispered, a slight bit of a croak in his voice.

   "One more day.. At least one more day to reconsider. For your sake, please give it a day to think about everything you still have to live for.”

   He stayed silent for a while. Everything to live for? What is it even talking about? It should know by now that everyone was gone. Still.. He supposed he at least owed it that much, for all its help ever since he picked it up.

   “One day more.” He sighed.

   “Thank you, Meta Knight.”

   He merely slipped it back in his sheath. Well… What was he to do now? He supposed he could just walk… Maybe… And so, he turned away from the ship and trudged off. It took maybe a few hundred feet, pausing every so often to rest before total exhaustion washed over him.

   At this point, if the color of the overcast sky was any indication, the sun was just starting to go down. Let’s see. Nothing but open, dusty field. Yeah, this seems like a good place to sleep.

   He flopped on his side, instantly regretting the careless way of laying himself down when he felt pain coursing through him, eliciting a hiss from him. Genius.

Stupid ship keeping him alive! It took only a minute after the pain faded a bit before he went out like a light.

   …

   Oh dear Suns he’s back here! Why wouldn't he be back here, of course when he slept immediately after what happened last time, he'd be back in this accursed cloudy place!

   "Don’t show up don’t show up don’t show up-"

   Aaaand there he is. Just came straight through a door which didn't exist a moment ago, and didn't exist a moment later.

   Well now Nightmare knows where he is. Great. He merely stared at the man in front of him. Fine, whatever. Galaxia can’t say he didn’t try to stay alive.

   “Oh, thank The Suns!” Nightmare breathed a sigh, like he was relieved.

   Yeah, thank The Suns that Nightmare can still crush him like a grape, huh…?

   There was a long pause between them. Meta Knight just decided to sit down quietly and wait for him to say something, because he sure as heck had nothing to say to him right now. But nothing came. Except for that invasive feeling, from the last night. And all the nights before that. It was maybe at least a few minutes before the sorcerer noticeably stiffened. What was this guy’s deal?

   “Meta Knight, I..” He spoke up after a while.

   “..You?”

   Meta has lost his patience.

   “I never expected that you’d…”

   The Batamon rolled his eyes at the fake shock in Nightmare's voice.

   “Is there a problem? You said you were going to kill me, I am sparing you the effort."

   “I.. I changed my mind. I don’t want to kill you.”

   “Really? That’s rich,” Meta Knight sneered, “Suppose I believed you. Why? Why, out of anyone in the universe, in all the centuries you were alive, do you wish to spare me? Why now, do you suddenly wish to stop? When you’ve already done so much that my death would barely even be so much as a tally at best, huh?!” he couldn’t help his voice rising and rising, “What makes me so different from everyone else?! What makes me so special?!”

   “I’m… I-I’m sorry-”

   “Oh right, because you’re ‘sorry’! Like that fixes anything!” he snapped, “Why couldn’t you be sorry sooner?! Explain that to me!!”

   The wizard noticeably flinched before he opened his mouth as if to say something.

   But nothing came out.

   Meta Knight huffed.

   “If you had suddenly told me you were ‘sorry’ anytime before all this… I would have actually believed you,” he whispered before chuckling dryly, “stupid, right?”

 

   Meta's future after that crash was littered with disaster, still. For on this planet was one of those ice dogs, which had detected him the moment he stepped foot on the place. Probably. Not only that, but he got these two weirdos following him around now. Axe Knight and Mace Knight, they called themselves. Bandits of some sort before Meta recruited them.

   Either way, it hadn't gone very well for Meta, he'd ended up falling and tumbling plenty of times before he'd eventually felt like he was going to die. It was after fighting off that dog, too. Warrior's death, he could be satisfied with that. He'd closed his eyes.

   Then he opened them, and he was in a bed, in a room, with people he'd never met. He took a couple of moments to look around quietly, then the people there noticed he was awake.

   "You're lucky the Waddle Dees found you, you looked half dead."

   The black snail who was currently tending to him was soft in voice, like he'd hurt Meta's hearing if he talked too loud. Meta sat up in a rather plush bed, bandages around his wings and other wounds. 

   "I wish I was dead."

   Meta said out loud, realized he'd said it out loud, then twitched. This snail's eyes went reasonably wide, as did the black penguin king's who was also in the room. The snail and penguin looked at eachother then focused back on Meta.

   "..I didn't mean to say that out loud."

   Was Meta's only excuse for that.

   "Who are you?" The king asked.

   "Meta Knight."

   "You will stay and work here, Meta Knight."

   "I don't want to."

   "I don't care, zoi. You'll work here, for me."

   Meta blinked at the king's command, looked at his bandaged wounds, then down at the sheets. His silence was to tell the king of his compliance. Not like he had anything better to do, honestly.

   "There's two people who've been following me around."

   Meta informed, laying back down in the bed because it was comfortable.

   "If you give me a job, you'll have to give them a job too."

   "That shouldn't be a problem."

   The king's response was simple, and so was his departure from the room. The snail stayed to tend after Meta.

 

   The years ticked by. Meta Knight's attempts to be rid of it all were beginning to get more and more hopeless as the king and his servants caught on to Meta's self destructive antics. They'd put things out of his reach, they'd lock things in places he couldn't find, and they'd even destroy things to keep him from using them in harmful ways.

   The only person who didn't catch on was Nightmare. He didn't catch on that Meta knew exactly what he was trying to do, and that it was pointless to keep trying to put on this stupid facade. Like, seriously. Nightmare'd changed like a lightswitch, no amount of trying to force Meta over multiple years to believe that act was going to change his mind.

   "I.. H-How are things today, Meta Knight? I.. Well, things have been nice this week for you, so today must've been nice as well, I hope.."

   The wizard wrung his hands, claws twitching. His voice came out wary, uncertain of what exactly he was speaking of.

   Meta had nothing to say to Nightmare, he let the wizard do all the talking. Say all the things he wanted while Meta just stood and stared. Of course, nothing came of their conversations. Neither would anything come out of this one.

   "Alright, uhm.." 

   Nightmare's claws wiped away the stormy, cloud-like environment to something much more familiar. The pastel landscapes of Dreamland. Full of cute little creatures and nice little plants.

   "Do you think you'd.. Like a dream like this? Here? For tonight?"

   Nightmare's question was met with more silence. Nightmare'd apparently thought that was acceptance, because he put his hand back with the other. Just looking at Meta full of some fake uncertainty.

   Meta's eyes narrowed, turned red, and the fear demon immediately shook, preparing to bring on those fake tears just like every single other night that Meta got mad at him.

   "You know what I'd like, asshole? You know what I'd really like?"

   Meta's voice was raised, full of hatred for the one who'd taken his friends from him. Taken his life from him, taken his happiness from him. Took it from everyone, everyone, taken so many lives and refused to feel guilty about it.

   "I-I'm sorry, p-please, s-"

   "I want to be a normal person again! You've taken everything from me, you ruined everything for me, now I'm like this because of you! I want to go to the Suns with Jecra and Garlude, and everyone else you killed!"

   Nightmare cried these cosmic tears of multiple colors. They'd look pretty if they weren't fake and belonged to a mass murderer.

   "I-"

   "I want to just disappear!" 

   Meta's yell was enough to make the dream threaten to crack like glass.

   "I want a meteor to crush me, anything, anything so I don't have to look at you anymore! Anything so I don't have to talk to you anymore, anything so I don't have to deal with you in my dreams every single night I go to sleep! You know what I'd like!?"

   "S-So-"

   "I'd like to make sure you suffer for the rest of your eternal existence for what you've done to everyone, and to me!!"

  
  
  



End file.
